Professional development

Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing praxis in addition to the transferable skills and theoretical academic knowledge found in traditional liberal arts and pure sciences education. It is used to earn or maintain professional credentials such as professional certifications or academic degrees through formal coursework at institutions known as professional schools, or attending conferences and informal learning opportunities to strengthen or gain new skills.^[1]^[2]

Professional education has been described as intensive and collaborative, ideally incorporating an evaluative stage.^[1] There is a variety of approaches to professional development or professional education, including consultation, coaching, communities of practice, lesson study, case study, capstone project, mentoring, reflective supervision and technical assistance.^[3]

^ ^a ^b Speck, M. & Knipe, C. (2005) Why can't we get it right? Designing high-quality professional development for standards-based schools(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press^{[need quotation to verify]}
^ Summer, Gail (2006-01-01). "Professional Education/Liberal Arts Education: Not a Case of Either-Or but Both-And". Intersections. 2006 (24). Available at: http://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/intersections/vol2006/iss24/6
^ National Professional Development Center on Inclusion. (2008). "What do we mean by professional development in the early childhood field?" Archived 2018-07-24 at the Wayback Machine. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Institute.

[:0-1] Speck, M. & Knipe, C. (2005) Why can't we get it right? Designing high-quality professional development for standards-based schools(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press^{[need quotation to verify]}

[2] Summer, Gail (2006-01-01). "Professional Education/Liberal Arts Education: Not a Case of Either-Or but Both-And". Intersections. 2006 (24). Available at: http://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/intersections/vol2006/iss24/6

[community.fpg.unc.edu-3] National Professional Development Center on Inclusion. (2008). "What do we mean by professional development in the early childhood field?" Archived 2018-07-24 at the Wayback Machine. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Institute.

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